"La coronación de María" procession, Hackensack, NJ, May 15, 2022

[BLeafe]

Sometime after 10:30am yesterday, I started to hear church-like singing. Since I live between two churches, I figured it was coming from one of them that may have opened their windows on a nice Spring morning. But then it started getting louder and sort of familiar-sounding............another Ecuadorian religious procession?

I went to a south-facing window in my apartment and - sure enough - I could see a procession coming up Union St.


PIX

1. I got my camera. The group had reached Passaic St, as an officer was directing southbound traffic off Union St so the procession could proceed northward. I could see that some unfamiliar object was at the front of it.

2. After they crossed Passaic St., I zoomed in to see what religious object headed the procession.............it was a statue of Saint Speaker!

3. Then I saw something else I hadn't seen before: a bunch of balloons. What was that supposed to represent?

4. Time to zoom in again............oh, wait - I recognize that configuration. It's a rosary! But if I remember correctly, there should be 10 white balloons between each red pair, which doesn't always seem to be the case with this rosary.

5. Time for the star of this show/honoree. I called the Holy Trinity rectory this morning to find out what this procession was all about. "The Crowning of Mary" was the reply. Google says it's "the Coronation of Mary as Queen of the Heavens by her son, Jesus Christ". Well. she is sporting a lovely crown.

6. When I started editing this pic, the program decided to let me know that it didn't recognize a dozen of the pictured people. Fortunately, Mary and Baby Jesus made the cut.

7. There are always interesting items in these processions that I've never seen before (check out the "flowers"). At the bottom of the framed artwork the two men are holding, you can see the words, "EL CISNE". Information about that can be found here:

https://thecatholictravelguide.com/destinations/ecuador/el-cisne-ecuador-our-lady-of-el-cisne/

8. If you'd like to hear what they were chanting as they went out of view, check out this 20-second video:


Click pix to enlarge.